THIS IS: Casey Foley

THIS IS: Casey Foley
Small town guys often come with the most determination, style and force and thats exactly what Casey has done in skate, Ducktales and his new mag, FORM - Launching this August. We were so stoked to have the opportunity to work with him and dive into the endless archives of Casey’s.

How old were you when you first started skateboarding?
9 years old. Insane to thinks it’s almost been 20 years!

Small town NZ to Big City Melbs, what made you want to switch? 
Well, I was always travelling around NZ when I was younger. I’d always get the bus from Oamaru (my home town) to Dunedin so I could go skate and film at new spots in a more up-tempo city. I left school when I was 16 and skating was all that mattered. I ended up getting a job at an abattoir (meat works), and saw the life ahead of me if I didn’t leave Oamaru. It is a beautiful town, but with no University or decent jobs available, there is no other option but to work in that filthy place. I had friends living in Melbourne at the time, so I saved up as much as I could and got the fuck out. It was a huge change of pace but I loved Melbourne and I still do.

What music do you wake up to? Gets you hyped to go skate?
Man, it changes all the time.

Right now I’m stoked on the local/Australian music scene. My friend Sam is part of a musical collective called “Mandarin Dreams” which features some insanely talented local artists. He introduced me to a whole new world of local music, which not only inspires me to skate, but to be productive and make shit happen. This one band “Raw Humps” is fucking awesome and has a real Sun Ra aesthetic to it. Also Sam’s band “Kuzich” is incredible. It’s a strange mix of Quasimoto and Spiritual Jazz but also has some gospel hooks, which sounds insane but its fantastic.

Sampa The Great is incredible and when she teams up with the producer Nap King Cole, shit is out of this world. Been listening to heaps of Nelson Dialect, who is a rapper from Adelaide who’s been killing it for some time now. He’s out living in New York now right in the roots on East Coast Hip Hop, so he’s just getting better and better. 

Lord Finesse by Casey Foley 

What’s in your backpack?
Camera always. Usually just the Ricoh GRII. A banana, keep cup, spare bag for groceries and a UE Boom. I try roll pretty light so it’s easy to skate around.

Where is your latest fave Melbourne spot? 
This new spot ‘University Square” or as some call it, “No Piss Plaza” is insane! It reminds me of Lincoln so much. It’s just somewhere in an urban environment, where skaters and pedestrians can meet without clashing. Super smooth ground with all types of amazing ledges. I’m stoked to have a new spot to chill at.


Casey Foley NoComply5-0 by Jason Morey
Tom Snape Switch Nosegrind by Casey Foley

What are favourite memories from Lincoln? 
Memories. Man the best memories were just feeling in the zone. Like, on top of your game. Skating in circles, knowing every nook and cranny of the plaza and being able to hit it. It was so much fun. All the crew would absolutely kill it. One memory that really sticks to my head is when it all got demolished. We all knew it was coming but we were never really ready for it. One day we were skating it without a single problem and the next morning there were drills going directly into the ground, tearing up the space in which we had spent so much time skating on. It was so sad!! Sounds corny but I can still hear the noise of that jackhammer smashing up the concrete, as we stood outside the gates unable to interfere at all. During the demolition, we would sneak onto the “worksite” and try skate the rubble. It was like walking over a war zone! We were all speechless. 

For anyone who doesn't know, what is Ducktales? And how did it come about & what’s going on with it at the moment?
Ducktales is a collection of zines that I’ve worked on over the past 6 years. Originally the concept came around when I went to New York for the second time in 2013. 16 skaters from all over Aus and NZ got together and went on a 6-week trip through the East Coast of America just skating, partying and filming. As you could imagine, there were heaps of priceless photographs from that trip, so when I got back to Melbourne, I made a little zine. As I continued to travel, skate and shoot photos, I kept making zines. Eventually it turned more like a magazine with articles, advertising, interviews etc. The last issue I put out was early 2018, but worked on other projects under the Ducktales name since. I did a little one from my recent trip to Japan with Louie Dodd, when we were filming for “Lenz 4” and one called “PINNY” which is a A4 best of kind of project. It’s always been for fun but I also like taking it serious and making them super clean and well presented. It eventually turned into a website which I would sell underground print matter, DVDs etc from all around the world. I’ve recently just canned it all tho so I have more time to focus on bigger and better things.

Jahmal Williams in Brooklyn New York by Casey Foley

Your new magazine “Form” is just about to drop, where and when can people get their hands on this? 
Yeah man in August. It’s being distributed through the guys at “Cash Only”, so if a skate store carries Butter Goods, there’s a high chance they will get the mag. It’ll be floating all around Aus. 

How long has this project been in the pipe line? 
Maybe only around 6 months, but the idea has always been there but I have always been focused on my own personal projects. I like the idea of having a space in print where underground skaters/artists/photographers have a voice. Where popularity and sponsorship doesn’t matter. Where skaters don’t just talk about getting fucked up at an industry party or something lame. It’s just gonna be clean, short and for the underground. I’m stoked on it.

 San Fran Street at Night & Alex Campbell San Francisco 2015 by Casey Foley 

What should we expect from you in the next 5 years? 
More clips with travelling and clips with Butter, FORM magazine growing bigger hopefully, more street photography. That’s all I can really speak on for now but that’s the plan. 

Casey Foley Kickflip by Jason Morey 

Biggest influences?
Skate related, probably Matt Evans and Garth Mariano at Butter Goods. Seeing their work ethic and commitment to the brand is so amazing. They are the hardest working people I’ve ever met. To run a distribution, a very successful brand and 2 shops is mind blowing to me. 

My partner Amy too. She works so damn hard and has helped me grow so much in the last few years.

How was working on your own outfit with Butter Goods? 
That was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy on my end. I just saved a bunch of images from Google of Ralph Lauren, Patagonia jackets and other gear that I’m into. I remember searching Ghostface Killah outfits a lot haha. I sent Garth my ideas and the colour’s that I’m into. Back and fourth with the designs for 2-3 days and boom. We got samples sent to Melbourne and everything was perfect from the get go. I got the suit 3 months in advance so I got to rock it a bit and film/shoot for the socials. It turned out perfect and people seem super stoked on it. I’m sure the boys had a lot of other stuff to do behind the scenes to make it perfect, but for me it was super chill.

Mike Arnold Jam by Casey Foley 

You seem to really advocate for Australian brands why do you feel it is important to back the Aussie scene?
Well, yes and no. Like, there are some absolutely horrible brands from Australia that I’d never advocate for then there’s companies like Private Joy, Hoddle, Passport and 4, who put endless hours of time into creating an aesthetic to their brand, building a team, filming and shooting photos and going on trips. Aside from Passport, I bet these brands barely break even so for them to put in all this effort purely for the culture and their passion for skateboarding is what it’s all about. 

We love how humble you are and how you are just generally stoked to be part of skateboarding industry, how do you mange to stay humble?
That’s really kind. Well, everyone is technically far better than me on a skateboard so that keeps me in my place ahah. But also, we all owe skateboarding. It doesn’t owe us, so you gotta do your best to keep the culture thriving. Wether it’s by shooting photos, filming, running a shop, owning a company, teaching a skate school, whatever. There are so many people much like yourself that are working so much harder then me to keep this culture healthy.

Casey Foley Nosegrind by Jason Morey

Do you feel a lot of kids these days get to fame or sponsor hungry and forget about the actual stoke of how rad street skateboarding actually is ? 
Oh for sure. Well its so easy for a kid to slide into the DM’s of a brands instagram and hit them up, so why wouldn’t you? If I were a broke kid in this generation I’d probably be doing the same. I grew up in a town without a skate shop, without Internet and without a camera, so it was always just for fun. I didn’t even think about sponsorship until I was like 16 or 17 and neither did any of my friends. It was always just about having fun. I still try having that same mentality when I’m skating now. That’s probably why you don’t see me do the hardest/technical tricks, coz its always just for fun. 

Skateboarding has taken you places, where has been the fave spot and place you have skated? 
I skated LOVE Park in 2016. That was a dream come true.  We were travelling around the East Coast of America and visited New York, Washington DC, Baltimore and Philly. We were only supposed to stay in Philly for 5 or 6 nights but ended up staying for 10. We weren’t really sure if LOVE was skate-able at all, but after talking to the locals, they said its cool to skate from like 10pm onwards. We would chill for a majority of the day, skate 1 or 2 spots, get dinner then go skate LOVE all night. It was so much fun. Watching Geoff Campbell and Tom Snape skate the plaza was soo fucking rad. Also, I really enjoyed skating Embarcadero in San Francisco too. Although the spot is pretty crap these days, I still had a lot of fun skating around and thinking about Henry Sanchez skating 40mm wheels on the shitty ass bricks.

Last year in Japan was insane too. My favourite Japanese skater Shinpei Ueno who runs Tightbooth Productions and also films/edits the LENZ video series, hit me up to film a small part for LENZ 4. This was such an honour so I had to make it happen. Seeing their passion for filming, skating and their business was soo inspiring. 

Casey Foley Crook Bonk by Tomoki Peters.

Where is your fave bar in Melbourne? whats you're go to drink? 
Dude I don’t even know anymore. I just go out with my partner Amy or if there’s a gig on. We usually go to this spot Romantica right next to my house, which is dope, but we just found out about this Winery 2 tram stops from my place. I think I did all my partying in my early 20’s. I’m pretty bored of it now, but I really enjoy chilling at a pub and taking it easy. 

How do you escape?
Wine and cheese on Lygon street with my partner Amy. Ha-ha.